Marcus Aurelius: The Philosopher Emperor
Marcus Aurelius, born in 121 AD, is one of the most renowned figures in Roman history. He is primarily remembered as the last of the “Five Good Emperors” and for his significant contributions to Stoic philosophy.
As the Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 AD, Marcus Aurelius faced numerous challenges, including wars and political intrigue. However, what sets him apart is his unwavering commitment to Stoicism, a philosophy that emphasizes rationality, self-control, and virtue as the path to inner peace and wisdom.
Marcus Aurelius remains a symbol of a philosopher-emperor, a leader who valued wisdom and virtue over personal gain and power. His legacy endures as a testament to the enduring relevance of Stoic principles in navigating the complexities of life with grace and wisdom.
Marcus Aurelius’ thoughts and reflections on Stoicism were compiled into a series of writings known as “Meditations.” These personal notes reveal his inner struggles, moral dilemmas, and his deep dedication to living a virtuous life despite the temptations and pressures of power.
His “Meditations” offer timeless wisdom on topics like resilience in the face of adversity, the importance of self-discipline, and the transitory nature of life. They continue to inspire and guide individuals seeking personal growth and philosophical insight.
Here are some the top quotes from Marcus Aurelius:
It never ceases to amaze me: we all love ourselves more than other people, but care more about their opinion than our own.
How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself.
You want the praise of people who kick themselves every 15 minutes. The praise of people who despise themselves?
You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one.
The best revenge is to be unlike him who performed the injury.
It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.
If someone is able to show me that what I think or do is not right, I will happily change, for I seek the truth, by which no one was ever truly harmed. It is the person who continues in his self-deception and ignorance who is harmed.
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself in your way of thinking.
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.
Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
When you wake up in the morning, tell yourself: the people I deal with today will be meddling, ungrateful, arrogant, dishonest, jealous and surly. They are like this because they can’t tell good from evil. But I have seen the beauty of good, and the ugliness of evil, and have recognized that the wrongdoer has a nature related to my own – not of the same blood and birth, but the same mind, and possessing a share of the divine. And so none of them can hurt me. No one can implicate me in ugliness. Nor can I feel angry at my relative, or hate him. We were born to work together like feet, hands and eyes, like the two rows of teeth, upper and lower. To obstruct each other is unnatural. To feel anger at someone, to turn your back on him: these are unnatural.
Do not act as if you were going to live ten thousand years. Death hangs over you. While you live, while it is in your power, be good.
Do every act of your life as though it were the very last act of your life.
Live a good life. If there are gods and they are just, then they will not care how devout you have been, but will welcome you based on the virtues you have lived by. If there are gods, but unjust, then you should not want to worship them. If there are no gods, then you will be gone, but will have lived a noble life that will live on in the memories of your loved ones.
Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly. What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.
Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying…or busy with other assignments.
Do what you will. Even if you tear yourself apart, most people will continue doing the same things.
A person’s worth is measured by the worth of what he values.
Is it your reputation that’s bothering you? But look at how soon we’re all forgotten. The abyss of endless time that swallows it all. The emptiness of those applauding hands. The people who praise us; how capricious they are, how arbitrary. And the tiny region it takes place. The whole earth a point in space – and most of it uninhabited.
No one can lose either the past or the future – how could anyone be deprived of what he does not possess? … It is only the present moment of which either stands to be deprived: and if this is all he has, he cannot lose what he does not have.
Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realise the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.
It is my bad luck that this has happened to me.’ No, you should rather say: ‘It is my good luck that, although this has happened to me, I can bear it without pain, neither crushed by the present nor fearful of the future.’ Because such a thing could have happened to any man, but not every man could have borne it without pain. So why see more misfortune in the event than good fortune in your ability to bear it?
Stop wandering about! You aren’t likely to read your own notebooks, or ancient histories, or the anthologies you’ve collected to enjoy in your old age. Get busy with life’s purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue-if you care for yourself at all-and do it while you can.
Don’t let yourself forget how many doctors have died, furrowing their brows over how many deathbeds. How many astrologers, after pompous forecasts about others’ ends. How many philosophers, after endless disquisitions on death and immortality. How many warriors, after inflicting thousands of casualties themselves. How many tyrants, after abusing the power of life and death atrociously, as if they were themselves immortal. How many whole cities have met their end: Helike, Pompeii, Herculaneum, and countless others.
And all the ones you know yourself, one after another. One who laid out another for burial, and was buried himself, and then the man who buried him – all in the same short space of time.
In short, know this: Human lives are brief and trivial. Yesterday a blob of semen; tomorrow embalming fluid, ash.
To pass through this brief life as nature demands. To give it up without complaint.
Like an olive that ripens and falls.
The time is at hand when you will have forgotten everything; and the time is at hand when all will have forgotten you. Always reflect that soon you will be no one, and nowhere.
Nature set a limit on that—as it did on eating and drinking. And you’re over the limit. You’ve had more than enough of that. But not of working. There you’re still below your quota. You don’t love yourself enough. Or you’d love your nature too, and what it demands of you. People who love what they do wear themselves down doing it, they even forget to wash or eat. Do you have less respect for your own nature than the engraver does for engraving, the dancer for dance, the miser for money or the social climber for status? When they’re really possessed by what they do, they’d rather stop eating and sleeping than give up practicing their arts.
So you were born to feel ‘nice’? Instead of doings things and experiencing them? Don’t you see the plants, the birds, the ants and spiders and bees going about their individual tasks, putting the world in order, as best they can? And you’re not willing to do your job as a human being? Why aren’t you running to do what your nature demands?